Human life force is remarkably tenacious.
Take this Mr. 8, for instance—more accurately, Igaram, the captain of the royal guard of the Alabasta Kingdom. This uncle with his long, curly hair had first been slashed by Zoro, then half-blown to bits by Mr. 5's booger bomb, yet here he was, lively as ever, standing before the Straw Hat crew.
At this moment, the man seemed to have awakened some truly unfortunate trait. He'd donned a dress eerily similar to Princess Vivi's, baring thighs covered in thick, bushy leg hair. His face was slathered with an exaggerated layer of foundation, and the garish lipstick on his lips was downright spine-chilling.
In his arms, he clutched several crudely made dummies. By his reckoning, he intended to disguise himself as Vivi to lure away Baroque Works' assassins.
(Is this what Princess Vivi looks like in your mind? You're not trying to distract the killers—you're trying to scare them to death!) Sherlock broke into a cold sweat, silently roasting the man in his head. Igaram's current getup was simply too devastating.
"Ahem, well, well~" Igaram cleared his throat and turned to Luffy, who seemed bizarrely impressed by the outfit. "Can you escort Princess Vivi back to Alabasta for me?"
"Sure, no problem!" Luffy, perched on a barrel and picking his nose, answered with his usual blunt cheer—just as he'd casually agreed to take Vivi and Mr. 9 back to Whiskey Peak.
Hearing their idiot captain agree so readily, Nami—who was already on the verge of a breakdown—snapped. She stormed over to Luffy, yelling, "Why didn't you just say no?! Don't you realize we're about to face one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea?!"
"The Seven Warlords?" Luffy tilted his head toward Igaram. "That guy strong?"
Igaram nodded gravely, unconsciously wiping the sweat from his forehead—smearing his foundation into a streaky mess.
"Very strong! Though the government revoked his bounty after making him a Warlord, it was 80 million berries before that!"
"Eighty million?" Zoro stroked his chin and glanced at the bespectacled man lost in thought nearby, sounding puzzled. "That's 10 million more than Sherlock, right?"
"No comparison," Sherlock said, pushing up his glasses and addressing the group. "My 70 million bounty comes from attacking a Marine branch—they labeled me a terrorist."
"And beyond the bounty, the World Government choosing him as a Warlord is proof enough of Crocodile's strength."
Nami looked pleadingly at Sherlock, hoping her "reliable teammate" might talk some sense into Luffy. All she got was a helpless shrug, sending the orange-haired navigator's spirits plummeting.
It was too late to argue now. Their idiot captain had already agreed, and from the excited glint in his eye, he was clearly itching for a fight with this so-called Warlord.
At the shore.
Accepting the Eternal Pose from Vivi, Igaram gazed fondly at the beautiful princess who had grown into a graceful young woman, his heart heavy with the passage of time.
(Princess Vivi, you will save the kingdom!) he thought fiercely.
He extended a hand to her and said slowly, "While I'm gone, take care of yourself."
"Igaram…" Vivi's eyes glistened as she looked at the guard captain who had raised her since childhood. But as a strong princess, she swallowed her grief, forcing a bright smile. The blue-haired girl grasped his rough hand and said softly, "You too—be careful! We'll meet again in Alabasta."
Igaram nodded, then turned to the Straw Hats nearby. "I'm counting on you to look after the princess!"
Luffy flashed a huge grin. "You got it!"
Hoist the sails—set off.
The ship carrying Igaram and the decoy dummies gradually faded into the distance.
"What a funny guy!" Luffy said, staring at the shrinking vessel. No one around him had any idea what he found so amusing about the uncle "playing ghost."
"Mhm." Vivi nodded, steadying herself before speaking softly, "That's why I've always trusted him…"
"Tch, what an idiot!" Miss Valentine, still sprawled in an utterly mortifying pose atop Carue, sneered. The kilo-woman, feeling abandoned by her organization, seemed to have given up entirely. With venom in her voice, she snapped at the group, "He's going back alone? He's practically begging to die!"
Well, maybe this lemon-loving woman really did have a crow's mouth…
Vivi turned to retort, but before she could, Igaram's ship erupted in a blinding white flash, illuminating half the sky. A deafening boom followed as a massive pillar of fire shot upward. The blazing inferno reflected on the sea like blood, casting a crimson glow over the stunned faces of those watching from afar. The shockwave was ferocious—even at this distance, it blew Luffy's straw hat clean off.
But the impact on the Straw Hats' hearts was far greater. They hadn't expected Baroque Works' killers to strike so soon!
Luffy's face hardened as he picked up his fallen hat and slowly placed it back on his head. His eyes widened with resolve, and he let out a roar before sprinting toward the distance.
"The bomb must've been planted on the ship beforehand…" Sherlock's face was livid as he rounded on Miss Valentine. "Didn't you say your boss only sent the two of you?!"
"I-I-I don't know! The boss's orders are top secret—only Miss All Sunday and the assigned agents are told!" The assassin stammered under Sherlock's intensity.
"Quack! Gah gah!" The dim-witted duck finally reacted long after the explosion, letting out a startled squawk before bolting toward the horizon at cheetah-like speed, making Miss Valentine scream as she clung to its back.
Miraculously, no matter how fast Carue ran, it never flung the bound assassin off. (Sherlock later learned she was using her Devil Fruit ability to constantly shift her center of gravity to stay balanced.)
"Miss All Sunday?" Sherlock pushed up his glasses, ignoring the assassin being carried off into the distance. He stared out at the sea, the firelight reflecting clearly in his spotless lenses.
"Watching a loved one die right before her eyes… that's too cruel for a princess…" he thought silently, then turned to Vivi—and his heart lurched.
"No way… the killers are already here?!" Nami trembled, covering her mouth.
"Damn it, we need to set sail now," Zoro said, quickly regaining his composure. He turned to Nami with a grim expression. "Hey, Nami—did you finish logging the pointer?"
"Huh? Yeah! It's done—we can leave anytime." Nami nodded, then urgently called to Vivi, who stood frozen in place. "Vivi, come on! If they find us too, Igaram's sacrifice will be for nothing!"
But when Nami looked at Vivi's face, she froze.
The fallen princess stood there helplessly, her gaze locked on the ship flickering faintly in the flames. The warm sea breeze from the explosion ruffled her long, water-blue hair. She bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin, the crimson stark against her deathly pale skin—a sickly, cruel kind of beauty.
The pain in her heart must have dwarfed any physical wound a thousandfold; she didn't even notice she'd bitten through her lip.
Yet what shocked everyone most was that Vivi didn't cry. Not a single tear fell from those dim, grayish eyes.
"…"
Sherlock's eyes narrowed. This Vivi reminded him of himself as a child.
At fourteen, upon hearing of his parents' deaths, young Sherlock had stood alone by the sea, just as helpless. Fighting the urge to bawl, he'd worn a numb expression and stared at the ocean all night. The next day, he resolutely took over the nearly bankrupt Goldglint Trading Company…
Most people would've broken down sobbing at losing a loved one. But neither Vivi nor the young Sherlock had cried.
Because the burdens they carried were too heavy.
Because they had to be strong!
"This princess is so strong…" Nami thought, her heart aching at Vivi's pitiful state. Having once borne the lives of her entire village, she understood Vivi's feelings all too well.
In that moment, all Nami wanted was to hug the poor princess and comfort her. But just as she started forward, someone beat her to it.
Sherlock wrapped his arms around Vivi, pressing the girl's head gently against his chest. He patted her back softly and whispered into her ear, "Don't worry. We will get you back to Alabasta safely." His tone was as calm as ever, but both present could hear the iron resolve beneath his words.
Nami stared in confusion at Sherlock's uncharacteristically tender actions. But when she met his eyes—black as shattered midnight stars beneath his glasses—she, the "mind-reader," seemed to understand something.
(So you've got some hidden past of your own, huh, Sherlock…) Nami thought, then steadied herself and called to Vivi, "That's right! We'll all protect you with everything we've got!"
"Don't let Luffy and the others fool you—they may seem unreliable, but they saved the entire East Blue with just a handful of people!"
"And this glasses guy? He's a terrorist with a 70 million berry bounty on his first wanted poster!"
"Baroque Works? The Seven Warlords? Crocodile? They're nothing against these guys!"
Nami's words rang out strong and clear, each one carving itself into Vivi's heart. Slowly, light returned to her eyes.
"Heh… wonder who was so scared of the Warlords earlier that her legs gave out…" Sherlock's lips curved into a faint smirk. He looked down at the blue-haired girl trembling with emotion in his arms and said softly, "Yeah. What's a Warlord anyway?"
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